Sadie
by DaLizzie
Summary: Master would not sleep, and the strange water was coming out of his eyes again. Master was very sad, but Sadie could not figure out why. PG13 for suicidal themes and implied yaoi


A/N: Yay, one-shot! I got the idea for this after I finished reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, so if any of ya'll have ever read it, you might see one or two related things in this fic. Otherwise, it all came from my whack imagination. Enjoy!  
  
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He was standing on the balcony as the house-voice chimed, "7:30 in the morning, master." He was looking down from the red mountain hills to the half-asleep city below. A thousand other house-voices called through a thousand other houses to wake a million other people to the dusty red August dawn.  
  
Usually, the announcement would be followed by, "Time to get up. Your breakfast is ready," but instead the computerized voice said, "You have had only one hour and forty-three minutes of sleep this night, master. Would you care to sleep longer and I shall wake you at a designated time? I could notify your office superior that you will be late."  
  
He was silent for a moment, contemplating, then said softly, "No, Sadie. I don't want to sleep."  
  
"Very well, master," the house-voice replied. He sighed, resting his hands on the railing of the balcony and staring forlornly down at the city. "But... do send a message to my boss. Tell him that I won't be in today."  
  
There was a momentary whir from the house-voice, and then it said, "The message has been sent, master." There was another long silence, until the house-voice finally said, "Your breakfast is ready, Master Yugi."  
  
Yugi took one more glance at the city nestled among the red carpet hills, and turned to go back into the house. The glass crystal door opened for him, and closed behind him automatically.  
  
Sitting at the wood-carved table, the young man ate slowly. He stared through half-lidded eyes at a fixed point on the pristine white wall beside him, absently chewing on pieces of bacon and bites of fried eggs that the house's kitchen computer had concocted.  
  
"8:30 in the morning, master," the feminine computer voice sang. Yugi stared down at his half-eaten breakfast for a moment, then leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. "You are weary, master," the house-voice said. "I strongly recommend sleep."  
  
He just shook his head. "I don't want to sleep," he said in a slow, tired voice. "There are too many dreams. It's not rest, it's just torture."  
  
"Merely perceptions of reality fragmented and converted into illusions created by the subconscious when one is in an unconscious state," the house-voice stated matter-of-factly. "It is nothing to worry over, master."  
  
A mirthless smile tugged at Yugi's lips. "It is a thing of the human mind being burdened by the human heart. It is something that you wouldn't understand, Sadie."  
  
The computer processed this for a moment, wheels of mechanized thought turning and whirring and spinning. "The human heart is the organ that circulates blood through veins of the human body. I do not understand how this is a burden to be associated with the human mind."  
  
"I told you that you wouldn't understand," Yugi said, leaving his plate on the counter to be cleaned by the kitchen's computer and walking out of the kitchen, across the hall, and into the music room. "Don't dwell on it too much, Sadie."  
  
"Yes, master."  
  
He sat on one of the many wide, soft chairs, curling up partly and staring into the fireplace at the front of the room. As if on cue, the fire burst to life, and from the walls and the ceiling and the floor and everywhere came lilting music played on the delicate strings of a violin. Yugi stared into the fire for a moment longer, listening to the familiar song, then shook his head suddenly and sat up.  
  
"Not that song, Sadie," he said, and the music stopped instantly.  
  
"What song would you like, master? Or would you prefer poetry?" Yugi just shook his head slowly, still staring into the lit fireplace. "No, nothing. Especially not that song."  
  
There was complete silence in the musical room, and complete silence from the house-voice. Finally, Yugi stood from the chair. "Sadie, I'm going to go down to the city for a bit. I'll be back in about twenty minutes."  
  
"Yes, master. May I inquire as to where you are going specifically in case you have a visitor while you are away?"  
  
"If a visitor comes, tell him to bugger off."  
  
"Yes, master."  
  
Automatically, Yugi's shoes were by the door and the car outside was already started with the driver's door open. "Good-bye, Sadie," Yugi said absently, and the house-voice replied, "Good-bye, master."  
  
As soon as he was out of the house, the shades were drawn and the doors were shut and locked. The turning of the mechanized wheels in the house slowed, and the entire house was still and silent.  
  
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"11:47. Welcome back, master," the house-voice said as the door opened for Yugi. "You are back later than was expected."  
  
"I know, Sadie, I'm sorry. It took longer than I thought that it would." A small bag was in his hands, and he held it to his chest as if afraid that someone would steal it away from him.  
  
"Sadie? Take this to the bathroom and put it in the medicine cabinet, please." A metal, spider-fingered hand dropped suddenly from the ceiling, carefully took hold of the small bag, and disappeared once again.  
  
"Thank you, Sadie," Yugi said softly, then he walked slowly to the bedroom at the other end of the house. The drapes opened wide to let light into the room, and the glass doors to the balcony opened as Yugi stepped towards them. Looking down at the city once again, it was easy to see that the entire population was bustling and busy.  
  
The noises of cars, trucks, and trains could be heard from the hills above, of radios playing and people talking and footsteps across the pavement. A noise he was so used to; he heard it every single day. Every day, that is, except today.  
  
The noises seemed to stop just before they reached his ears, lingering there so that he knew they existed but still wasn't quite able to grasp them. It all seemed dark, too. Somewhere in himself he knew that it was a cloudless, clear day, with a scorching August sun that was beginning to simmer down into fall, but his vision was dark and he could see none of it.  
  
Yugi stood there for a long time, watching and listening but not seeing or hearing. He thought, and thought of all things past and all things that were supposed to come. Just like the darkening of the sky and the deafening of the noise, everything had stopped in one moment.  
  
Long hours passed as he thought and watched and listened; the house- voice was silent as it watched and listened, its cogs spinning to try and find a logical explanation for why master was acting so very odd.  
  
Into the afternoon the time went, and across the sky the sun went. Like a stone statue coming to life, Yugi suddenly turned and stepped back through the glass door. Sadie said nothing, and Yugi went through the back door of the house. The house-voice watched, and saw its master go out to the stone that had been in the backyard for only a few days now. The house- voice watched closer; master was very sad.  
  
The house-voice computer had a vague concept of human emotions, and could deduce what they were feeling from their actions. When a human made an odd "ha" noise several times in a row and the corners of their mouth were turned up, then that meant that they were happy. When they seemed tired but would not sleep and water was coming out of their eyes, then that meant that they were sad. Happy was good; sad was not. Master was sad, and that was not good, but Sadie did not know what to do.  
  
Yugi stayed out in the backyard for a very long time, also, staring at the stone. The house-voice watched carefully, and saw that water was coming out of master's eyes. That meant that the sadness was very bad. A human could be sad without the strange water, but having it meant that the sadness was much worse.  
  
Evening began to close in, and the sun began to set on the other side of the dusty red hills. The August day began to say good night, and Yugi came back inside. He was trembling, the water still coming out of his eyes.  
  
"Master?" Master did not answer. Instead, he went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There, placed neatly on the shelf by the metal hand, was the small bag from the city. Yugi grabbed it, and took out a small bottle and a syringe.  
  
The house-voice looked closer. The bottle said liquid cyanide on it. The house-voice could not understand what master would want with a syringe and liquid cyanide.  
  
"Master? What are you doing, master?"  
  
"I'm going to give myself a little medical treatment, Sadie," Yugi said, taking the syringe and plunging it into the cap of the bottle. The syringe began to fill with the deadly liquid.  
  
"Master, injecting liquid cyanide into the human bloodstream will cause internal paralysis, which will result in eventual heart failure. I strongly advise against this course of action."  
  
"That's exactly what I want, Sadie," Yugi said, taking the syringe with him into the music room, and reclining in the soft chair. "Internal paralysis, heart failure, and such whatnot that you mentioned."  
  
"You want..." the computer had to process this carefully to make sure the received information was correct, "...to die?"  
  
Yugi nodded, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. "Yes, Sadie, that is what I want." The house-voice was silent, not comprehending. "It is a matter of the human soul, Sadie," Yugi said, knowing the reason for Sadie's silence. "Something to do with emotions and a pain that isn't physical. I could explain it all to you, but I don't think that you would understand."  
  
Once again, the computer processed the information. It took all the knowledge that it had about humans and their emotions and finally came up with a conclusion.  
  
"This is about Master Yami?" it finally said. Yugi's hands stared to shake, and he had to take a moment to recompose himself before nodding. "Yes, it is about Master Yami. I..." he took a shuddering breath, "...I can't live without him, Sadie. You must understand that."  
  
The computer was confused again. "But, you have all the nourishment needed for a human body to survive..."  
  
Yugi waved his hand dismissively. "No, that's not it. My soul can't survive without him, that's what it is. And the body cannot live without the soul. That's something that you won't find in any database, Sadie."  
  
More silence, for the computer did not understand, but wished to respect whatever master wished to do. Yugi did not feel the small prick as the syringe entered the vein in his wrist, and he closed his eyes against the sudden tears as the cyanide was injected into his blood. Once it was spent, the syringe fell from his fingers and lay discarded on the floor, its purpose served.  
  
He opened his eyes slowly, staring at the fire that was lit once again. "Sadie?" he asked faintly.  
  
"Yes, master?"  
  
"Will you play that song? Just... one more time?"  
  
One small moment of silence, then, "The last time, master?"  
  
Yugi closed his eyes again, laying down and curling up on the chair. "Yes," he said, "The last time. When midnight comes, you may shut down, Sadie."  
  
"As you wish, master."  
  
The soft violin notes floated through the air in the room once again, and gradually Yugi felt his breath begin to slow and his heartbeat start to fail. It became fainter and fainter, succumbing to the dark night poison.  
  
"Good night, Sadie," he said in a soft whisper, and closed his eyes for the very last time with a smile on his lips. He was smiling, the house- voice knew. That meant that he was happy, and master being happy is good.  
  
"9:27. Good night, master," the house-voice said. At midnight, everything was completely still in the house. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. "12:00. Shut down all systems permanently. The service to Masters Yami and Yugi Mutou has ended at 12:00 midnight on August 13. Good night, masters."  
  
And the house was silent forever more.  
  
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A/N: Yes, by gosh, I have written something that doesn't have a happy ending! Amazing, huh? BTW, don't quote me on the liquid cyanide thing. I'm not sure that liquid is the form that cyanide usually comes in, and nor do I know if it actually kills a person by internal paralysis. All that I got when I tried to look it up on the internet was first aid for cyanide poisoning and articles about this loon who put cyanide in some tylenol bottles a few decades ago. But anyways, hope ya'll enjoyed it, please review! 


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